Tyra Banks is a African-American Public figure that many girls in the model and fashion industry look up to. Who could blame them? She is a powerful, successful, and confident woman who has a huge control over a desirable industry for women of all ages and sizes. Though in today’s society we all see her a role model, she too had her concerns and grievances before she became the women that the world know sees her as.
Tyra Banks was born on December 4th, 1973 in Los Angeles, California. She was a tall, skinny, awkward young girl who was mercilessly teased by kids her age, and even her own brother. She decided to reshape her image and body into one that sought after in the modeling world. But her struggles didn’t miraculously disappear with becoming a model. If anything, they became more frequent and difficult as her journey continued.
When entering the modeling industry, it is normal to seek out multiple agencies because one will not accept you. Tyra was turned down by four agencies before she was accepted by Elite agency at the ripe age of 17. Her first move after signing with them was to move to Paris to refine her career for a year.

While in Paris, she worked with many famous brands and labels like CHANEL and Ralph Lauren. When she returned to the US, she established a contract with the famous makeup brand Cover Girl in 1993. She was also the first African-American model to work with said company. Not only did she accomplish this, but she also began to work with American labels like Nike, Pepsi, and Swatch.
In in 1996, Tyra was the first black model to appear on Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Editions cover. After this, she made more shocking appearances on multiple magazine covers and was even included in Victoria Secret’s catalogue. She achieved the Michael Award as the Supermodel of the Year in 1997. Tyra then moved on to the acting industry where she received roles in “The Fresh Prince of Belair”, “Coyote Ugly”, “Inferno”, and many more. She then moved on to create her own TV Production called “Bankable Productions” in 2003 who then made the show “America’s Next Top Model”. She became its host and judge, and a few years after this success became host of a talk show, and went on to host many other shows.
While working in all the different industries mentioned above, she also became a writer and has written multiple books (one mentioned earlier in the blog this week). Through all of this, she had many struggles and had to learn to come to terms with the way her body was natural created. She could eat and never gain any weight, and at times she was considered undesirable by many labels because of her naturally given assets. Though she had to go through all these trials. She is now an amazing public figure in the modeling world, and my personal role model in the fashion industry.